Methylazoxymethanol (MAM), 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH), and azoxymethane (AOM), produce colon tumors in experimental animals. DMH and AOM are not carcinogenic in themselves but it has been postulated that they are transported to the liver and oxidized to MAM, conjugated as the glucuronide, and excreted with the bile. The MAM-glucosiduronic acid (MAM-GlcUA) moves down to the colon and is hydrolyzed by bacterial beta-glucuronidase to release MAM, the proximate carcinogen. This project seeks to establish the presence or absence of this enterohepatic cycle, and also to determine whether or not DMH and AOM are converted entirely to MAM-GlcUA, as postulated, or converted partially to other carcinogens via alternate pathways. The compound postulated to be involved in the enterohepatic cycle, MAM-GlcUA, has been synthesized by catalytic oxidation of the primary alcohol groups of glucose in cycasin, the glucoside of MAM. The bile of MAM-GlcUA injected rat will be analyzed to determine whether or not the compound is excreted via this route. The presence of MAM and MAM-GlcUA, the common metabolic products of DMH and AOM, will be examined in the urine of DMH and AOM injected rats.